Nerd Germs
by Fallon-Chan
Summary: Spencer Reid get's in a argument with his fiancee. Rated "T" for strong language. ReidxOC.


_**Authors note: Well, me and my friend are currently writing another fan-fiction together. She wanted me to create a "girlfriend" for Reid, seeing as we needed one for the story. So that was when Paige Cooper was created, and I never thought I would end up adoring an OC so much. I wanted to write a little story about them getting into an argument after one of Paige's old friends shows up out of the blue. I wasn't going to, but then a friend of mine bombed me with encouragement, so I thought "why not?" So here it is! I might write some more "oneshots" like this in the future, if I actually get my ass in gear. Ha! Nevertheless, don't forget to review.**_

_**Also, at the end, the lyrics are from "Kids in Love" by Mayday Parade!**_

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**_DECLAIMER! : I do not own any concept, character, etc. of Criminal Minds. This is purely fan-fiction!_**

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"Rafe? What kind of last name is that?" With that question now asked, Spencer got a nudge in the side from Paige. The evident rudeness that sprang out in his voice was not leaving a good impression on her. She now glared at him coldly with her dark brown eyes, as if mentally trying to explain that he was making a fool of himself. Of course, when you come home to find some stranger playing guitar for your fiancee on the front porch, what were the right questions to ask? Reid hadn't even bothered to shake the stranger's hand, even though he was a friend of Paige. One she had failed to mention until now, after he had randomly shown up out of the blue. The thought alone seemed suspicious enough, but maybe it was just based on the fact that there was a hint of jealousy creeping it's way up Spencers spine.

His name was James, and according to Paige they had gone to high school together. Well, before he dropped out that is. Back in New Jersey, the two were inseparable. The kind of friends you saw in movies, the kind of friends who never fell in love but always looked like a couple. As Paige now moved to seat herself next to the stranger once again, Spencer understood why the previous fact seemed true. This guy was tall and lean, dressed in leather with long greasy hair to match. With the smiling tattooed girl next to him, it almost seemed like the cover of some twisted punk rock album.

"Do you remember when..." The two were now reminiscing of the past, lost in their own conversation as they remembered parties and rock concerts, yelling at teachers and basically not giving a flying fuck about what people thought of them. There was an eagerness in the way Paige spoke, recalling the past in a way that made it sound like she wished to travel back in time. Basically, it was almost as if she was giving Spencer a giant slap in the face. It was like she was a different person around this man, a part of her personality slipping from a place where she had kept it hidden for years. The career woman melted away almost at once, leaving behind a teenager that only seemed innocent on the outside. James was in the same state of mind as her, and Spencer assumed that the man had never really gotten a chance to grow up and see the world as it really was. How could Paige just sit around and enjoy the company of someone who slept in the back of their car? He explained how he had traveled all over the East Coast, but had he even bothered to leave Jersey in the first place? For all Reid knew, James had just sat around in the heart of Trenton until his drug dealers went bankrupt. Paige hung onto every single word as if she had suddenly found a new meaning to life. How could she sit and believe all this bullshit? Sure, maybe Spencer was profiling this crackpot, but he had reason too. It didn't make sense that he would drive all the way down here just to say hello, unless of course he wanted something from Paige now that she was the successful person he wasn't. The son of a bitch sure was eyeing her chest a lot. But, maybe Spencer was getting ahead of himself. Maybe he was getting the wrong idea, letting the jealousy finally take hold. Yet, he wasn't about to let this go.

When he had first met Paige, it was in a Barnes and Noble almost two years prior. It wasn't the usual romantic meeting that most people anticipated. Stephen King had just released his recent novel, and it was flying off the shelves faster than Reid had expected. When he had finally reached the bookstore, the last copy that they had was in the hands of a woman who seemed overjoyed to have gotten it within her grasp. She was dressed professional, as if she had just gotten out of work. Her brown hair in a tight bun on the top of her head, thin glasses about her nose as she thumbed through the book. The sleeve of tattoos on her right arm showed a hint of her personality. With a smile she agreed to read it first, and lend it to him when she was done with it. It had all kind of fallen into place from there. That same book sat on the bookshelf in their house, a symbol of how a love for literature had brought them together. Paige often took the book from its, reading it during the summer when she wasn't working. It was only then that she was able to actually enjoy books she wanted to read, seeing as she was an English teacher at the local high school. Outside of the classroom she was bright and witty, but once those students sat down she suddenly turned strict and demanding. Sometimes she brought the stress home with her, but at the end of the day she still somehow managed to put a smile on Spencers face. In a general way of speaking, she was his first love. From the second she spoiled the ending of that Stephen King novel, he was destined to keep her around forever. In a way, she held his sanity together. Someone to hang onto after a long day at the BAU.

Now as James picked up his guitar once again, it was almost as if Paige was slowly drifting into some other world. He was getting ready to leave, thank the lord. Reid wasn't sure how much time had passed, based on the fact he was too busy judging this new person. He came to the conclusion that he had a right to judge him, seeing as it was only a way for him to look out for Paige. He managed to slink past them into the house, cutting between the two just as they were about to embrace. He didn't need to see that, as it would have most likely set him off. Soon enough, Paige slammed the door behind her as she came inside. She seemed more furious than Reid at this point, crossing her arms as she faced him.

"What the hell is your problem?" She asked, her voice firm and steady as she proposed her question. Now, this was the Paige who taught teenagers. Taking shit from no one, and not about to let anyone stand up to her. Not even the man whom she loved. "You looked at him as if he was a sewer rat."

Well, that seemed to be exactly what James was. Spencer couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh, just based on the fact that he knew it would just leave Paige more ticked off. The two rarely fought, but when they did he always tried to have the upper hand. Deep inside, he hated to be proven wrong. Besides, he was also looking out for Paige, who obviously couldn't see the trouble she had gotten herself into by even bothering with James in the first place. Reid couldn't get a grasp on why a "friend" would totally leave you behind for almost ten years and finally return just to bullshit about nonsense.

"Because he looks like one, thats why." Paige wasn't getting the message here, she was still caught up in thoughts of the past. At any giving moment Reid felt as if she would walk right out the door and leave all she had earned behind, taking on a life similar to that of the scoundrel friend. "You can't expect me to believe that you actually enjoy his company."

Now as her fury was growing, she had stepped closer. As if getting up in his face was really going to make much of a difference. He wasn't even phased by it, or at least he pretended not to be. Part of being a profiler was having an ability to act like you didn't give a rats ass about what people said to defend themselves. Paige was clearly trying to make a point by standing up to James.

"You're just jealous, Spencer." She said, looking as if she was ready to smack him across the face. It probably would hurt too. "You're just jealous because I was happy to have seen someone after so long." She was right about the jealousy part, but it wasn't the reason she had stated. The way James had looked at her made it seem like he was ready to scoop her up and take her on the road with him. Like she was a prize he had finally come to claim. Well, if he really felt that way, why hadn't he just dragged her away when she was eighteen? What had fucked up his life so badly that he finally decided to run back to her now? There were too many questions Reid found himself mentally asking, longing for answers Paige was too angry to give him.

"In case you didn't notice," Reid now stated, taking a step back in case she finally decided to give him that blow the the face. She most likely wasn't, but the twisted look on her face made him want to be on the safe side. "He was ogling your chest more than your face."

Paige sort of faltered then, her face softened for only a moment. "What?" She had been too lost in dreamland to even bother paying attention before. Her face quickly returned to the way it was, and she was thrashing out once again. "What the fuck? How could you think that? James was always like my brother, so I don't know what the hell you were thinking." Her voice sort of trailed off towards the end, as if she was in disbelief that people actually changed.

"Well, it sure didn't look like he thought of you as a sister."

Reid watched her slowly back off, looking at the pale rug as she aimlessly searched for the right thing to say. Just as he started to think that this battle was over, she lifted up her head once more, eyebrows furrowed. "So? What does it matter if he wanted to fuck me or not?" She held up her left hand, pointing to the three-stone engagement ring that had cost Spencer well over five hundred dollars. "He's not the one I am engaged too. So stop acting out like this, or you just might be getting this ring back."

Her words hit him more than a slap would have, nearly taking his heart and throwing it on the ground. In all the fights they had had, she had never once threatened to leave. He had a right to act out, because he cared for her and would hate to see her whisked away into the arms of some stranger. If she left, what would Reid be left with? A bunch of Stephen King books and a memory.

"Fine! Leave if you want to! I don't care!" The thing was, he did actually care. Maybe raising his voice at her wasn't the best thing to do, but in the heat of the moment it just seemed appropriate, considering she was most likely going to just yell right back at him. He must have sounded pretty serious, because the anger had suddenly fallen from her face, replaced by a look of distress as she met his eyes. She probably believed him, which automatically made him want to reach out and apologize to her.

"Ugh!" Just as quick as her anger had faded, it returned. She threw her arms up into the air, growing ever more frustrated by the second. "You're just...Ugh!" Nothing else was said from her. Before Spencer could bother saying anything more, the woman had turned on her heels and stormed away, leaving him with an uncertain feeling that seemed to fill the air around him. There was a loud bang as Paige slammed the bedroom door, and nothing more. Just a silence that crept up on the man as if it had been waiting for the direct moment to do so. Well, this was great. Just great. Paige was pissed, leaving Reid to believe that she was having second thoughts about everything. He wanted to run in the room right after her, to catch her off guard and hold her until she finally forgave him for acting like an idiot because of that crackpot James. Nevertheless, he still trusted in his belief that he was just trying to look out for Paige. She was the one who had basically forced an argument out of him, but he really couldn't blame her. Now that he thought about it, he could have brought about his feelings in a much calmer way. He wondered if Paige was questioning the same things while she had herself locked up in the room.

In the end, it was all because he loved her. Communication through yelling may have not been the best way to get through to her, but the love was still there. He only hoped that she felt the same way, or that she would after she had cooled down.

So he let her have her space. She would get her time alone to sit by herself, with a cigarette in her hand to help her think. Although Reid disliked her smoking habit, if anything it would help her settle down. In the time they had been together, she had tried to quit numerous times. She was progressing though. One day she would eventually learn to just throw the habit out of the window. Now wasn't that day, obviously. Spencer had learned a lot about the emotions of women from Paige. One thing was that if they got angry, you had best leave them alone. You had to let them come to you if they wanted to fix things. But what if Paige only came out as furious as she had been before? What if she just were to walk out and never return? These questions bothered him, maybe a bit too much then they should. He should know better then to jump to some sort of conclusion. The empty living room wasn't helping the cause, and as Reid sat down on the couch he contemplated leaving the house for awhile. Would being out in the open be really much of a difference? About an hour passed by as he sat, flipping through TV channels. He would have read something, but he thought it would have made no sense to try to focus on a book on a time like this. So for now, a boring documentary on the History Channel would have to suffice. He already knew all about the Lewis and Clark expedition, but at least it was a perfectly good waste of time. The recalled information was in fact so boring, that the man allowed himself to fall asleep while watching it. It was a dreamless sleep, the kind that only seemed to last a few seconds when in reality they lasted well over forty minutes or so.

Reid was awoken what seemed like milliseconds later by the feeling of someone poking him in the side. Opening one eye he spotted Paige facing him on the couch, her legs crossed as if she had been sitting there for some time. Had she been watching him sleep, debating on what she would say? As he became aware of what was around him, a yawn escaped his mouth which in turn made Paige smirk and tilt her head to the side.

"Hey munchkin." She watched him stretch uncomfortably, her voice was much more subtle than it had been before. This was relief to him at once, seeing as he didn't want to risk becoming cranky if she decided to pick at him again. Instead she sort of shifted where she sat, tucking her knees under her chin.

"I'm sorry." She explained. "It was stupid of me to yell at you. I was just caught up in the moment." With a sigh, she allowed herself to shrug before continuing. "Maybe James is a jerk after all. I don't know. All I do know is I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." Her confession almost sounded as if it was coming out of a child who had pushed someone on the playground, but her sincerity in her voice was enough to make Reid believe her. It was also enough to make the anger suddenly melt away.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you either." He let out a tiny laugh, watching as she smiled at him in return. "Maybe I am jealous. But it's only because I love you too much." While saying this, he wrapped his arms around her, now smothering her in kisses while she squirmed in embarrassment, giggling as she made an attempt to escape his grasp.

"Come on now, I don't want your nerd germs!" She squealed as if she was some first grader on the run from a cootie outbreak.

Spencer pulled away from her slightly, making sure to keep a firm grip on the sides of her arms so that she wouldn't be able to get away. "What's that, Babe?" He asked, a devilish grin forming at his lips. "You want more of my germs? Well, if you say so." Before Paige even had a chance to protest this, he placed a hand on the side of her face and pressed his lips firmly against her own.

**_Her smile with the wind blowing through her hair_**

**_Was so contagious in the air_**

**_So satisfying and I'm still smiling_**


End file.
